Assignment 1-3: Journal Article Analysis
The article I chose to critique is “Pop Culture and the Economy,” written by Don Cusic and Gregory K. Faulk and published in The Journal of Popular Culture. The article is probably aimed more at the student of popular culture though most people would find it an interesting read. The authors give an in-depth look at how popular culture affects the economy. They break pop culture into segments and report their findings in terms of how much each segment grossed on an annual basis. They include stats and graphs and pie charts to further illustrate the impact of each of these different popular culture segments on the economy.
Cusic and Faulk identify two different sectors of popular culture as information; and arts, entertainment, and recreation. They further divide these two sectors into smaller segments. For example, the arts, entertainment, and recreation sector includes cable TV; film; broadcasting; sound recording; and newspapers, periodicals, and books. These segments combined generated $180 billion in 2004. It represented around 32% of the total dollars generated from popular culture. The information sector encompasses published works (magazines, newspapers, and books), films and video, music and other recordings, broadcasting, and satellite and cable TV industries. This sector represents 68% of the total popular culture industries and generated $385 billion in 2004 (Cusic, Faulk, 2009).
The authors include a table that reflects the 1998 through 2004 annual gross dollars by sector and by category within the sector. The table is enlightening in that it lists some of the categories not obvious such as fitness centers, spectator sports, zoos, museums, and parks. There is additional information on the major players within the individual categories. One interesting fact is that, in the arts, entertainment, and recreation sector, live entertainment is a bigger draw (Cusic, Faulk, 2009).
The style of this article is very fact-based and the pie charts and tables include a descriptive analysis of the data. It seems very thorough as far as facts and figures. The flow is more or less tiered with the authors speaking to the individual sectors and then dissecting each in facts and figures about the individual categories and their contributors. The article lacks any real, apparent conviction from the authors about the reasons behind why people spend more in one category than another. They do not really delve into the fact that one sector may be more profitable because it touches people in a real way. The only reference to a definition of popular culture is a very short, canned answer: “Cultural products are identified as those that directly express attitudes, opinions, ideas, values, and artistic creativity. They provide entertainment or offer information and analysis” (Cusic, Faulk, 2009).
The article Pop Culture and the Economy, though a very well presented work, could have had a broader appeal had it been expanded to include the reasons behind the figures presented. Giving examples of top films or popular music, or historic events that may have impacted the economic aspects would have given the reader a better picture of the icons’, heroes’, and stereotypes’ affects on how much money each category grossed. The facts and figures though show us that popular culture is not just a phenomenon. It is as much a part of each of us as is our DNA. The true question the article poses is “Does popular culture drive the economy or does the economy do the driving?”
References
Cusic, D. & Faulk, G. (2009). Popular culture and the economy. Journal of Popular Culture.
Carolyn,
ReplyDeleteIt is very interesting to see how the economy and pop culture intersect with one another. If in 2004 the arts were generating 180 billon dollars I can't even fathom what that number would be today considering the technological advancements in the last 5 years. "Does popular culture drive the economy or does the economy do the driving?” I lean towrds popular culture to answer this question.
Nancy
I enjoyed reading you analysis when it comes to breaking financial s down by various segments. It is amazing how much money is spent on these various groups. I enjoyed seeing the various graphs and charts as well. I agree with the statement about how the author directed his research as well. I would lean toward the economy drives popular culture. From a financial standpoint, if the consumer does not have the money, the various segments would not receive any funds.
ReplyDeleteCarolyn,
ReplyDeleteI think the analysis really helps visualize the spending on the popular culture. The pie charts especially further defines the particular segments with the percentage of revenue.
I have to give you pat on your back for your analysis since this can be very dry to read.
Thank you for your posting.
Carolyn,
ReplyDeleteI thought you did a great job with your analysis of this article. I felt that the authors really stressed the financial risk involved with producing a popular culture output and the consolidation in the control of the outlets for popular culture. I think that the domination of control is a factor that will need to be addressed at some time in the future. Although I tend to fall on the side that feels like pop culture is an ideology propagated by big business (as this article so clearly shows, mass media is an integral part of big business) to advance materialism and to disseminate a political or social agenda, the article highlights that consumers do have a say if they elect to make their voices heard (with their wallets). The most depressing aspect of the piece was the paltry contribution of museums, historical sites, zoos, and parks. I think this is vivid proof that we are trading in our American heritage for cable TV and movies that all too often don’t portray the American ideals that I want to leave future generations with as a legacy. Thanks for sharing with us!
Great job breaking this article down and its certainly a concept I hadnt thought of - how pop culture affects the economy. It amazes me how much money people spend on items to be just like their pop icons and the fact that we our spend money to promotes their movie, music etc. which makes them more money. The public is the best marketing these icons can hope for. The other interesting thing that this brought to mind is hoe America itself is a pop culture icon. People in other countries spend millions to have things that are " American" to be like Americans.
ReplyDeletePop culture and the economy, this is something new to me but it all makes sense. I can understand the impact it has on movies, literature and how it ties in with the economy. There are so many factors associated with pop culture; the economy and how it affects our economic systems is definitely something I will research more. Good analysis
ReplyDeleteGreat analysis. It is amazing how much money is spent on poular culture. I think it would be hard to decide why some people prefer spending money on movies to a buying a new book. It is a interesting fact that the article does not reflect that a reason behind a profitable category by perception. I think most of the products bought by people are because it gives the person a good feeling.
ReplyDeleteI like analyzing how much is spent on pop culture. With this information, a business can understand what society is interested in and what they are willing to spend their money on. I think it is also important to understand what people are willing to spend their money on during an economic turn down.
ReplyDeleteThroughout the course I think many of us realized for the first time, or at least I did, the connections between the economy and pop culture and what a reflection it is of the times and how much money (180 billion!) has been spent. I just keep thinking about the evolution of pop culture from Nickelodeons to stadium movie theaters and from victrolas to i-Pods. Who would've thought pop culture would have such an effect on so many aspects of our lives?!
ReplyDeleteHUMN341, Nicole Hayward, Response to Assignment 1-3, M6
I like what Shannon Moe said in her comment that America in itself is a pop icon. I had never thought about this but we are to every other country out there. Everyone wants to come to America to live the "big dream". This article shows why everyone wants to come here. We spend so much money on all of these frivilous things that we obviously all are rich. So why wouldnt other countries want to come here since we do have all this money?
ReplyDeleteCarolyn
ReplyDeleteGreat job on choosing this article, I truly believe that the economy and pop culture are intertwined. Mass communication media takes advantage of using celebrities to represent a particular product, thus boosting the economy thru consumerism. Great article and good luck!
Your analysis of this article is insightful and supports why I think this class is required for business/management students. The relationship between popular culture and the economy is strong. Purchasing trends are impacted, as is advertising and sponsorships for businesses. Thanks for this post.
ReplyDelete